Sport
5 April, 2022
Timboon Demons underdone against Tigers
TIMBOON Demons suffered a big loss against Merrivale on Saturday, going down by 156 points at home to the Tigers.
TIMBOON Demons suffered a big loss against Merrivale on Saturday, going down by 156 points at home to the Tigers.
Timboon went down early but remained competitive through the first half but fell away in the second half of the match to finish 2.7 (19) to Merrivale’s 26.19 (175).
The Demons’ pre-season was plagued with interruptions, and only started in earnest in mid-February. Timboon playing coach Marcus Hickey said the result was neither indicative of his side’s potential nor entirely unexpected.
“It might sound like a bit of a cop-out, but we weren’t too worried about the scoreboard after the game,” Hickey said.
“We were a little bit underdone coming into the match, which we knew we were, but it was sort of out of our control.
“A lot of our players play for Heytesbury Rebels, so we only had one practice match because they were playing cricket finals.
“Once we’ve got a month of footy under our belts I think you’ll see the real team.”
The difficulties of the pre-season played out through the match against Merrivale, as the Demons lost their legs through the latter parts of the contest.
“The first half we were in the game, we had plenty of opportunities,” Hickey said.
“But fitness in the second half let us down, which is something we’ve spoken about.
“As a result, our pressure dropped off, and we got beaten convincingly with their spread, we just weren’t able to cover their outside runs.
“We’ll look to improve our pressure on the ball-carrier over the next month.”
Hickey said there were plenty of positives to take from the performance despite the result.
“There are a lot of young guys in the side, we had four players debut on Saturday, so seeing those guys come into the team was a positive,” he said.
“Will Benallack played a good game on-ball and through the wing, and three young guys, Henry Stansfield, Mitch Wallace and Isaac Bedggood played really good games for us.
“The way we moved the ball was a real positive also, we stuck to the plan.”
Timboon takes on Russells Creek this Saturday at the Mack Oval, Warrnambool.
In other Warrambool and District League matches Nirranda beat Dennington, Panmure was too good for Kolora-Noorat, Allansford defeated Old Collegians, and Russells Creek won against South Rovers.